Why Sam Manekshaw deserves Bharat Ratna

On April 3, this year, Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw would have been 110 years old. But he lives on in the hearts and minds of all Indians as the greatest soldier of all time who gave India its first comprehensive victory with a new country, Bangladesh, being created. His biopic, Sam Bahadur, resonates on Netflix.

It is election season with a blitz of Modi Sarkar Ki Guarantee, including that Narendra Modi will take a third term as the prime minister. It is also raining Bharat Ratnas, the tally having moved from 48 to 53 since the award was instituted in 1954.

Last month, President Droupadi Murmu, in a rare personal investiture at the recipient’s residence, presented Bharat Ratna to BJP stalwart LK Advani; four others had been presented the award posthumously by her days earlier. Over time, Bharat Ratna, the highest award in the country, has become highly politicised and election-related. It is awarded for exceptional service towards the advancement of arts, literature, and science and in recognition of public service of the highest order. The operative words are ‘public service of the highest order’.

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In 2011, Union Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Ajay Maken urged then Home Minister P Chidambaram to include sports as an area of recognition for Bharat Ratna so that Sachin Tendulkar and Dhyan Chand could also be awarded Bharat Ratna. On the hallowed list are 15 intellectuals and artists, 30 plus politicians, and 2 sportsmen. But not a single soldier.

Indeed, the 53 distinguished individuals have made sterling contributions in their fields of expertise. But most are politicians, many of whom have slipped into oblivion, but they are Bharat Ratnas nonetheless.

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There is one exceptional person who has been overlooked for political reasons, as his sense of humour and self-deprecation were gravely misconstrued. That can be corrected now by the nationalists.

Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw, who became India’s first Field Marshal and presented the country with an extraordinary military victory, can be recognised posthumously. After the Himalayan debacle of 1962 caused by the Chinese invasion and stalemated wars against Pakistan in 1947 and 1965, it was in 1971 that Gen Sam Bahadur’s team of fighters and leaders defeated Pakistan into abject surrender.

The humanitarian intervention in east Pakistan by India created a new nation, Bangladesh, which the late minister Jaswant Singh called geography’s revenge over history. The man who took the bow for this victory, having planned and fought the war without political interference, was Sam Bahadur.

PM Modi is an ardent supporter of the cause of national security, especially of military courage and excellence. It was under his leadership that the decades-delayed post of Chief of Defence Staff was created and One-Rank-One-Pension was implemented.

Modi helmed the surgical strikes at Uri, the hot pursuit in Myanmar, and the daring Balakot air strikes. These offensive actions constitute an exceptional contribution to deterrence and “are public service of the highest order”.

The current prime minister rightly conferred late CDS Gen Bipin Rawat Padma Vibhushan posthumously. Rawat became the second four-star general officer (Air Chief OP Mehra was the other) to have won the coveted medal for distinguished service in peacetime, whereas 99 per cent of three- and four-star officers were given Padma Vibhushan for services in war. What is notable is that the majority of the Padma series winners are civilians, but military officers are also there.

An exception was made for Sachin Tendulkar and Dhyan Chand to alter the eligibility criteria for Bharat Ratna by adding “exceptional service in any field of human endeavour”.

Earlier, Bharat Ratna was restricted to areas like art, literature, science, and public service. With the criteria change, Manekshaw is richly deserving, now that he is a household name after the biopic Sam Bahadur. Today, there is hardly anyone, even from the remotest village, who has not heard of the winner of the 1971 war, Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw.

Social media is inundated with Sam Bahadur stories, his repository of jokes, and inspiring lectures on leadership applicable as much to the household as to the corporate world. When he resigned from the chair of the board of one of the several companies, he announced that, for the first time, a Naik/Corporal (AM Naik) would be taking over from a Field Marshal.

In the US, as in other foreign countries, the highest civilian award is the Congressional Medal, the President’s Freedom Medal, or their equivalent. These are not exclusively for civilians but have been awarded to Generals like Eisenhower, Colin Powell, Peter Pace, Douglas MacArthur, and many others.

A public petition by Rohinton Ranja, supported by thousands of Manekshaw fans, was acknowledged by the PMO in 2014. It was apparently closed in April 2015 without assigning any reason. When the national security of Viksit Bharat is Modi’s election battle cry, it is only befitting that its national icon, Manekshaw, be recognised. In 2017, Gen Rawat, after unveiling a bust of Field Marshal KM Cariappa and Gen KS Thimayya, when asked about Bharat Ratna for Manekshaw, said, “Most deserving”. Last month, former Army Chief Gen Ved Malik called for a Bharat Ratna for Manekshaw.

Lest we forget: In every crisis, Manekshaw came to be the saviour. In 1942, during the Battle of Sittang, he took a hail of Japanese bullets in his stomach and was awarded an instant Military Cross; in 1947, he was a key negotiator along with VP Menon to get Maharaja of Kashmir to sign the Instrument of Accession; in 1962, he stemmed the tide of the Himalayan retreat with orders: “No more withdrawals, Sam has arrived.” In the 1965 war, he held rock solid, the eastern front. And in the 1971 war, it was a total triumph. As such, Sam deserves Bharat Ratna.

The author is former GOC IPKF South Sri Lanka and founder member Defence Planning Staff, now Integrated Defence Staff, Ministry of Defence. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.